Gong Xi Fa Cai and bow bow

In school, he was that kid who used to make superfluous audio effects. One day he bleated mehhaahhh like a sheep during the chemistry class, the teacher was startled;  she asked him to "remain" at the back of the class. Little did he or she realize then that it was all written in the books. That his animal is the sheep. That he was born in the chinese year of the sheep..

SARAH: (April 24, 2006) Folks, the subject (the kid) is none other than Roxy! Hey Roxy, common admit it now. You liked to bleat and bleated you did in the classroom, and got punished for that!

Gong Xi Fa Cai ! It’s the Chinese New Year on January 29th, 2006. So when you see someone, greet with a Gong Xi Fa Cai Gong-She-Fa-Sai the newyear greeting, literally meaning "congratulations and be prosperous". In chinese calendar, one of the schemes for counting the year is the 12 year cycle, from 1, 2, 3 to 12. Then again from 1. Each year is represented by an animal. 2006 is the Year of the Dog. If you meet a chinese person and ask him his animal, you could get his year of birth too (as you could possibly guess his age-range)!

Please enter your birth year such as "1978".
Then click here

India-China talks
She: These Indians, they stink! they wear the same shirt to the lab 7 days a week. They stink!
He: These Chinese, they eat white onion and never had a shower in life. They stink!
She: Not all Chinese
She: Ya, not all Indians
Both were happy.

Japan-China talks
She: Your japanese books say the army did a great thing at nanjing. Burn those books
He: Your chinese books say Mao did a great thing in china. Burn those first
She: Oh ya?!
He: Oh ya!
No, not so happy.

It is sad to see so many chinese living here in Japan hate Japan so much. They have voice against whatever japan did. But they don’t have voice against tyrannies in their own country. Of course, once upon a time Japan’s political mindset was different, the defense was on the bad side and bad things happened. Japan’s mindset today is totally different from the yore. Since WWII it has only extended its hands for help. Yet people want to punish her for the sins of forefathers. Why don’t they first look at their own base and start rectifying from there? The number of chinese killed cuz of Japan won’t come any near to the number of people killed during Mao’s dictatorship (tens of millions of people). China has a bit grown out of its stringent communist measures of the past though people still have a lash even on their inner thoughts. Seems it will take years when human rights will weigh over unrealistic ideals.

Nevertheless, China has a great tradition of its own, though much is not obvious to people outside. Many of the traditions, art forms, even Kanji the writing system in Japan originated in China. One day, after my studies, I wish to go there and roam around inhaling the aroma of those unknown worlds. Yes I love china despite of what is said in the above piece of writing. Every country does have some insipid elements of its own. That doesn’t but define the whole of it. It’s whether you look at the thorns or roses.

Ok, enough. Hopefully, I’ll go for the chinese newyear celebrations here. i.e. if anyone invites me

Recommended book: Wild Swans, Three daughters of China by Jung Chang (banned in mainland China)

Epilogue: Gong Xi Fa Cai bow bow !! He used to howl and bow bow too. Later he was named as pattikutty (puppy-dog) by some of his classmates.

20 Responses

  1. sarah says:

    I see you are bleating a lot these days! hehe

    I remember having noticed the bitterness between chinese and japanese in one of the Bruce Lee movies that I watched when I was 6 or 7. At that time I thought they are fighting over who owned Kung Fu! haha

    – monkey

  2. silverine says:

    This sounds awfully like Indo -Pak rivalry!

  3. rocksea says:

    Theresa! lol, thatz a complicated ancestral history! interesting. it sure would’ve helped you in life to have a multicultural background.

    cibbuano, dreadfully interesting journey it should’ve been! the story of the old lady who wanted to be part of the same earth shared by her husband takes me through another journey hmm..

    g, come, letz bahhhahhh or meahhhhh 🙂
    yes past is from where you learn the lessons..
    that also means you’ve to accept the sheepish self in you lol

  4. g says:

    Im a sheep! I cant be a sheep! Im not from the flock and black sheep just aint cool enough!

    As for the Japs and them feeling sorry about the war by that standard the US should shoot itself for hiroshima and nagasaki…

    In wars collateral damage occurs, sometimes intentionally too but then noting about war is rational since we r fighting over percieved differences when we are all pretty much the same.

    The past is something to learn from, not be ashamed of..i think the japs ought to get over the whole no millitary concept and be bold to rise up to truly being the land of the rishing sun

    but mn i was born in the year of the sheep? Bleeaaatt? Yikes !Maybe they got some cool fire sheep or something!

    have a nice day rocksea
    later
    g

  5. cibbuano says:

    rocksea,

    I crossed the desert to get to Kashgar from Urumqi. It was a horrible journey, and our bus his a horse, leaving us stranded in the desert. There was a old woman on the bus, in poor health, going to Kashgar to die and be buried with her husband or something.

    Still, I’ll never forget it.

    cibbuano

  6. Theresa says:

    To answer your questions… xD~

    Did you also get hong bao? Sadly… no. 🙁

    You mentioned your ancestors are from China. Did they move to philippines during the culture revolution or longgg beforrrrre??
    Nope, my great grandfather on my mom’s side came from China and was adopted by a Spanish priest, and brought to here. And so my mom’s mom Chinese heritage was under a Spanish surname. While my grandfather (mom’s side) directly came from Mainland China. On my dad’s side, his mom is Hongkong native, and his dad came from mainland China but was brought up here in the Philippines. 🙂 Soo.. that’s it! lol Quite long I think.

  7. rocksea says:

    cibbuano, ni hao
    Taklamakan desert! thatz the Desert of No Return  Was it a journey for experiencing the desert or a journey to cross it?? Remember reading abt the desert in Readers Digest longg back.

    Ya it seems some things are wired into people.. May be in time with gloablization and interaction things will get better.

  8. cibbuano says:

    Hi,

    I read Wild Swans – it was fantastic. I read it as I was taking a horrible 30-hour bus ride across the Taklamakan desert, and the book made me angry.

    When I was in China, I tried to convince my adult students that a lot of their anger towards the Japanese was unfounded. It didn’t work. They refused to agree with me and simply stated that an earthquake in Tokyo would ‘be a good thing’. It’s sad to see so much unjustified hatred.

  9. rocksea says:

    anupcs, 🙂

    Err0r, bow bow

  10. Err0r says:

    xin nian kuai le!

  11. anupcs says:

    I have to check out My Chinese Wife. Hadn’t heard of it before this. My wife is actually from Taiwan.

  12. rocksea says:

    pradeep, yokoso (welcome, in japanese).

    ya but as i said before, shouldn’t the brains behind those brain washed minds be tagged as murderers first? anyways the kamikaze (WWII japanese suicide bombers) is a totally different issue, i just mentioned it there thatz all.

  13. Pradeep says:

    Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. True, sucicide bombers have been part of Japanese force. The only difference is that this time around, these bombers are not part of any organised army.

    Good to see your site. Chinese and Japanese affairs are of interest to me. Would drop by often.

  14. rocksea says:

    theresa, the war history involving 3 of the countries can be traced back to 1894 when china and japan fought for control over korea. it seems most of the problems started there.

    Is it that your ancestors came from China during the Cultural Revolution (1996)? (if so it could be your grandma or great grandma) Or ancestors who moved into philippines long back?

    anupcs, ni hao! yes so many (may be even us) have stereotypical images of cultures/countries we don’t know. hehe, some of my friends even get confused whether am in japan or china. everything looks same to them. and most of them think here we eat snakes and rats alive. if am an indian, i eat only curry. ya india = curry for some. haha. sometimes it is funny. sometimes it is sad to see people making definitions based on a few things.

    wow, you married a chinese woman! only few months ago i read an autobiographical novel by Karl Eskelund, My Chinese Wife. Karl Eskelund, a Danish writer and journalist who fell in love with China and a Chinese woman. The book is hilarious! and at the same time meaningful; read if you could get it 😀

  15. anupcs says:

    The India-China dialogue is interesting. It’s quite true of the stereotypes held by people even here in the US. I eventually married a Chinese woman but not before having to overcome the very same perceptions you describe.

  16. Theresa says:

    The Indo-Chinese conversation made sense to me, and seemed quite a bit funny. 😛 But the Japanese-Chinese one had a more serious meaning to it than the first one. From what I’ve studied in school, I think Japan and China already have had a VERY long history of wars and stuff. And somewhat got Korea involved too. lol But anyways…

    Gong Xi Fa Cai to you too. 🙂 I’m a Snake according to my birthday. This is the year of the Dog, so it’s a lucky year for all the dogs out there. haha. And eventhough I didn’t grow up or was born in China, I also love it as for it’s the country from were my ancestors came from. xD~ lol I’m proud of it! Except for the communism part. 😀

    And sorry to say, I don’t remember where Pretty pink Katherine’s blog is now located. =/

  17. rocksea says:

    prasad, those are my own observations. indo-china, two or more people had the same dialogues 😀
    japan-china, is based on opinions from my chinese and japanese friends. The rivalry also mattered when Japan applied for permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Japan is the 2nd largest contributor to UN and its causes. Incidentally, Japan was also the largest contributor when the Indian Ocean Tsunami happened.

    Tiger! You’re so young 😉 Glad to see someone seriously pursuing civils early enough. Since am in Japan now, i can seriously prepare after my studies thatz in 2007. 2008 will be my last chance which i hope to do, nevertheless.

  18. prasad says:

    Those two converstions ‘india-china talks’,’china-japan talks’ r really funny n makes sense.Wer they your own observation r taken frm sum article?
    Recently,i came to know abt harsh rivalry between those two countries while i was reading an article abt East Asian Summit.
    btw my chinese animal is Tiger(nothin less to b expected frm me :)).
    i am goin to giv civils in 2008.for history,i started off with ncert books.ven r u givin civils?
    c ya.

  19. rocksea says:

    haha. it has been long since i had some chicken tandoori lol.

  20. Pidiyana says:

    Er.. I am a CHICKEN according to the Chinese!!!

Leave a Reply to rocksea Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *